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Bomb Patrol in Iraq; Questions on the War on Cancer
Aired August 16, 2005 - 14:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Improvised explosive devices, weapons of choice by insurgents in Iraq. The homemade bombs killer may -- more U.S. troops than anything else, and they making patrolling the front lines even more deadly.
Our Alex Quade is embedded with a marine patrol whose mission is to find and destroy those IEDs.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALEX QUADE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It begins with breakfast at Abu Ghraib Prison and ends with a (EXPLOSIVE NOISE). This is just another day for the Marines of Dragon Platoon, a weapons company from Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.
GUNNERY SERGEANT JEFF VON DAGENHEART (ph): Son of a [BLEEP]. Well, welcome to freakin' Iraq.
QUADE: Their mission started before dawn. Gunnery Sergeant Jeff Von Dagenheart and his men hunt IEDs, improvised explosive devices.
DAGENHEART: So everybody keep their head down.
QUADE: They've hit 22 in two weeks, but only minor injuries so far.
DAGENHEART: There's no freakin' smiling today, all right? Everybody got me! Freakin bunch of weirdos!
QUADE: On patrol, daylight breaks. Gunny Dagenheart is already suspicious.
DAGENHEART: What's in there?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Salaam (ph).
QUADE: This is how his Marines battle the insurgency, searching for hidden explosives. One car, one person at a time. Next on their beat...
DAGENHEART: Roger one two (ph) request permission to enter friendly lines.
QUADE: Abu Ghraib Prison. We go inside the wires, behind blocked barriers and under watch towers I talk with Dagenheart while his Marines go to chow.
What is it that you're checking for? What is the danger?
DAGENHEART: The vehicle borne improvised explosive devices.
QUADE: And what is that?
DAGENHEART: It's usually just like they pack the wheel wells full of C-4, TNT, maybe a couple of 155 shells or 125 tank round shells.
QUADE: So the actual vehicle become a bomb?
DAGENHEART: Is a bomb. We've ran across three here in the last week.
Roger. We just left Abu Ghraib. This is where all the bad stuff originates around here.
QUADE: The Marines call this area a car bomb factory and say insurgents blend in with the locals.
DAGENHEART: Perishnicof (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
DAGENHEART: How many?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One.
DAGENHEART: Show me.
QUADE: They search house to house.
DAGENHEART: Check upstairs.
You know, don't trust anybody. Even if they're nice and offer you tea, you go up on the roof and you find 50 weapons.
QUADE: Because this nice lady has offered some tea already.
DAGENHEART: Yes. You go into some of these houses and see pictures of Osama bin Laden and you're like, oh, OK. Or Zarqawi. You start checking a little bit more.
QUADE: He hopes his platoon's presence keeps bomb builders off guard.
DAGENHEART: Open the hood. Trunk. Open them up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, salaam.
QUADE: Without a translator, it's volume and just . . .
DAGENHEART: Hey, what's your hurry? What's your hurry? Freakin' slow down! Slow slow down.
QUADE: It may seem funny, but it's deadly serious. This crater is from an IED, improvised explosive device.
DAGENHEART: That hit us yesterday. Good training, huh?
QUADE: Which is why the Marines also train Iraqi recruits.
DAGENHEART: Lots of bombs lately. Bomb! Bomb! Twenty-two in two weeks. Twenty-two. Language barriers. It's all good, right?
QUADE: They race to where something has been sighted.
DAGENHEART: Well, fasten your seat belts, gents! Oh, (BLEEP). Johnson (ph), keep your eyes down. Hey, Hawk (ph), look to the left. White bag or possible shell. Look hard left. I'll look right. Shell, shell,. Find me a shell.
QUADE: Between here and those cars may be an IED.
DAGENHEART: Find me a green bag. Keep your head down. (BLEEP). No hole dug, no nothing. But the trig man is going to be to our right over here and I see a car. Let's go ahead and eyeball that and have your gunner scan to the right see if you see a trigger man.
QUADE: They see something between the traffic.
DAGENHEART: There's a dude standing right where that supposed IED is. Can you tell if he's got anything on him? What's he holding there, Smith? Can you see it? I don't know, what's in his gut? He's in his pocket right now. Watch him. Watch him.
QUADE: Dagenheart zeros in on him.
DAGENHEART: See how he's holding his freakin' shirt!
QUADE: His finger on the trigger.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's (INAUDIBLE)
DAGENHEART: Yes, he is.
QUADE: Turns out to be just a shepherd.
DAGENHEART: A guy playing shepherd over here with some sheep and he's standing right where the IED where the supposed IED is.
QUADE: This typical day is only halfway through.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: And a quick fact check of the facts here on IEDs. As you may have heard, they are believed to be the number one cause of U.S. casualties in Iraq, killing 36 American troops in July alone. That number is included in the total figure of 448 U.S. service personnel killed by IEDs in Iraq during the last two years. That's almost one-third of the total number of U.S. troops killed by hostile fire in the war. A Pentagon spokesperson says that U.S. forces are getting better at spotting and disabling those devices. He estimates that U.S. forces successfully dispose of about 40 percent of the devices that they encounter.
And you can see more of Alex Quade's special report on the hunt for IEDs in Iraq on CNN's "SITUATION ROOM." That's coming up in about half an hour, at 3:00 p.m. Eastern. You can see also part two of her report right here on LIVE FROM tomorrow.
Straight ahead, cancer questions. What you want to know about the disease. We received so many e-mails yesterday, So Dr. Otis Brawley, Emory University, is going to join me again to provide some answers for you.
And preparing to strike. Trouble brewing for one major airline. Will it affect your travel plans this weekend?
SIBILA VARGAS, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: And I'm Sibila Vargas in Hollywood. Madonna goes to the hospital and Tommy Lee hits the books. We'll have all the details when LIVE FROM continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: So we're getting word that a rock n' roll bad boy has a new gig, but first, Madonna's birthday celebration leads to a trip to the hospital. CNN entertainment correspondent Sibila Vargas joins us now from L.A. with the latest. Hi, Sibila.
VARGAS: Hey, Kyra, that's right. Madonna's 47th birthday celebration has ended with her going to the hospital. The singer's publicist says Madonna was riding a horse on a country estate outside of London when she fell off a horse today. She suffered three cracked ribs, a broken collarbone and a broken hand. Madonna was taken to an undisclosed hospital, but her publicist says she'll be released later this evening. The star was celebrating with her husband, film director Guy Ritchie, and her two children Lourdes and Rocco.
And there will be a lot more on Madonna's accident tonight at 7:00 p.m. Eastern on "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT" and possibly at "THE SITUATION ROOM" If we could update the story.
Well, moving on to other news.
Love 'em or leave 'em, we're going to see a lot more of Tommy Lee. The rocker father and former husband of Pamela Anderson is taking on a new role: a college man.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Make good grades for me. Make me proud of you.
VARGAS (voice-over): It's back to school time for that wild rock 'n' roller Tommy Lee. The Motley Crue drummer's new reality series "Tommy Lee Goes to College" follows his misadventures, musical and otherwise, as a student at the University of Nebraska.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Swearing, drinking, smoking, drugs, God forbid -- none of that. Honestly, we're not going to cut you any slack. If it looks like this is not going to work, we've got to pull the plug.
TOMMY LEE, DRUMMER, MOTLEY CRUE: Basically we bum rushed the University of Lincoln Nebraska, so that's -- my favorite reactions are the ones that are real, you know, all the people are like, "Dude, that's Tommy Lee," like they were tripping.
So, you know, those are my favorite moments, the awkward, funny, bizarre ones.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This guy is a rock star.
LEE: Where's the cheerleaders?
Even through my high school years I knew that I wasn't really -- that wasn't really what I was here on the universe to do, it was to do music, so I knew that I was going to bounce at some point. That's one of the reasons I did the show was because I never got to have that opportunity or experience.
VARGAS: Once the show wrapped, Tommy got back into the fast lane. There's the Motley Crue tour, a new solo CD out last week, an appearance in a Missy Elliott video, and he's seeing more of his ex, Pamela Anderson, even showing up for her roast on Comedy Central.
Now that's a postgraduate program.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VARGAS: And you can catch Tommy Lee and all of his antics tonight at 9:00 on NBC.
And that's your news from Hollywood.
Kyra, back to you.
PHILLIPS: All right, Sibila, thank you so much.
Well, "The Situation Room" is coming up at the top of the hour.
Let's get right to Wolf Blitzer in Washington to find out what he's working on.
Hi, Wolf.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Kyra. Thanks very much.
Coming up later today, just in a few minutes, one-on-one with Benjamin Netanyahu, the former prime minister taking on the Israeli government over the Gaza pullout. Is he on the right or wrong side of history?
I'll ask him the tough questions.
Plus, spying in the new millennium. Should the U.S. be spending billions of dollars on satellites or on people, so-called human intelligence? We'll take you inside the national intelligence debate.
And backlash against that protest mom -- divorce papers served and locals, at least some of them, up in arms.
We'll take you live to Crawford, Texas, where Cindy Sheehan is taking some heat.
All that and much more coming up right at the top of the hour, Kyra, here in "The Situation Room."
PHILLIPS: All right, Wolf. Thank you so much.
We're taking your questions on cancer. We received so many e- mails from you after yesterday's special, so Dr. Otis Brawley, an oncologist from Emory University joins us once again, hopefully, with all your answers next on LIVE FROM...
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well, we got an extraordinary response from all of you yesterday to our special on LIVE FROM -- our special on cancer, rather, and we received so many e-mails and calls from viewers for our guest, Dr. Otis Brawley from Emory University, that we've invited him back today to answer more of your questions on treating and fighting cancer.
Great to see you, Otis.
DR. OTIS BRAWLEY, ONCOLOGIST, EMORY UNIVERSITY: Great to be here.
PHILLIPS: Well, let's get right to it.
This one comes from Daniel. He wrote to us from Delaware. He says: "My wife, age 55, has not had a pap smear or mammogram in the 13 years since I met her. Nothing I've been able to do or say or do will convince her to go for the screening. She says there is no history of cancer in her family. If she has cancer, she says she would prefer not to know and go quickly."
Do you have any advice for Daniel?
BRAWLEY: Well, you know, that's very unfortunate.
Let me tell you that there are a number of studies that indicate that the death rate of women who get mammography on a regular basis, especially women over the age of 50, is at least a third, perhaps half that of women who do not get mammography.
So it's clear that mammography can save lives.
It's also clear that breast cancer is not a quick death. It can also be very painful.
So we actually prevent a lot morbidity or suffering by encouraging screening as well.
The same can be said for pap smears. Anyone who is sexually active ought to be getting a pap smear at least every three years, some ought to be getting it perhaps every year.
PHILLIPS: Well, you bring up a good point.
My mother had to watch my grandmother die of cancer, and it was a long and painful process. You don't go quickly.
Also, too, Daniel asking the question or at least saying that his wife is saying there is no history of cancer in her family. That doesn't matter because cancer can strike anybody.
BRAWLEY: That's right, especially in regards to breast cancer.
You know, about one out of every five women diagnosed with breast cancer has a family history of breast cancer. That means four out of five or 80-plus percent do not have a family history.
PHILLIPS: All right.
This one coming from Bill, Doctor: "Why don't we hear much more about the treatment for carcinoid tumors on the liver?" I have to practice all these medical terms.
BRAWLEY: Yes, carcinoid tumors are an unusual tumor. And because there are not a lot of people who get carcinoid tumors is why you don't hear a great deal about it.
There are actually a number of good treatments for carcinoid tumors. There are some studies on how we can better treat carcinoid tumors.
But the tumors that get a lot of press are the tumors that affect a large number of people -- lung cancer, breast cancer, prostate and colon cancer.
PHILLIPS: What is the best way to read about those studies, by the way? Is there a certain magazine you turn to on a regular basis, or a Web site, or a journal?
BRAWLEY: Well, the Web site at -- the National Cancer Institute Web site frequently has wonderful reviews of these things. There is something called physician data query, or PDQ, and you can get that at www.cancer.gov.
The American Cancer Society is a wonderful resource, and that's cancer.org, www.cancer.org.
PHILLIPS: Good advice.
All right. This one coming from Pam in New York Mills. She wants to know, "Are all cancer diagnoses made based only on pathological results. My gynecologist feels that based on clinical appearance and symptoms, I have cancer. However, pathological testing has been negative and thus I have been referred to an oncologist for yet another opinion."
BRAWLEY: Yes, that's an excellent question.
It is rare that we diagnose a person with cancer without having at least cytologic or pathologic diagnosis; that is, a piece of the tissue or fluid from the tissue that is analyzed under the microscope by a pathologist.
There is the case where there is a patient who I suspect has cancer, and I'm almost certain has cancer, but I don't consider them to definitely have cancer and I don't treat them until I have the pathologic diagnosis with a biopsy or what's called cytology.
PHILLIPS: And in addition to the pathologic results, I mean, it's so important when you say to get a second opinion, even a third opinion.
BRAWLEY: Yes, I'm very fond of second opinions. I think anyone who goes to a doctor who discourages a second opinion goes to a doctor they shouldn't be going to, quite honestly. I think that second opinions and discussion are very, very important. Virtually every patient I see I discuss with other doctors, seeking that second opinion or that verification that what I'm doing is correct.
PHILLIPS: All right. Sandra says: "I have breast cancer, a lumpectomy, with clear margins, a trace in the sentinel node. What about the statistics for recurrence with and without chemo?" That's the first question, and then I'll get to the second part of her question.
BRAWLEY: Yes, well, I can't speak to an individual person. I can tell you with breast cancer, it's going to depend on the size of the primary, as well as how many lymph nodes were positive. And what she was actually talking about is, there are a number of women with breast cancer who have no evidence of disease after surgery, but they have a tumor that makes a us suspect there is probably is some disease there we can't find, and we can knock down that disease that we can't find, and keep it from coming back within the next five years.
PHILLIPS: Well, Sandra also wants to know what about statistics on natural alternatives?
BRAWLEY: Unfortunately the problem between natural and alternative medicine and mainstream medicine is mainstream medicine actually involves the scientific process. Many alternative medicine advocates actually reject assessing to get statistics on their data. Very frequently, when you have someone who's advocating something which is called alternative and it's assessed in a scientific way, if it turns out to be beneficial, it's no longer alternative medicine.
PHILLIPS: All right. This one's coming from Glenna in Aurora, Colorado.
"I watched your program on cancer. Our son was recently diagnosed with carcinoid tumor and is having a difficult time" -- I'm having a difficult time with that word -- "both physically and emotionally. He has been told that the tumor is a rare cancer and there is no treatment. That just can't be true. He's only 43, has two small children. This program was filled with home and it is something we all need at this time."
BRAWLEY: Yes. Again, I can't talk to a specific individual's case, but I can tell you that carcinoid tumor, when it is localized or not spread very far, can sometimes be treated very effectively. Carcinoid tumor, when it is spread far throughout the body, is less easy to treat. However, I'd encourage this person or anyone who has a tumor like this to consider going into a clinical trial. At that Web site I told you about, www.cancer.gov, one can actually look up carcinoid tumor and can even see what clinical studies there are around the country or within 100 or 250 miles of a particular zip code that involves that specific tumor. And that may actually be a place where they might be able to get good treatment.
PHILLIPS: Dr. Otis Brawley, oncologist at Emory University, thanks again for your time today.
BRAWLEY: My pleasure.
PHILLIPS: Well, this programming note, too. You can see an encore of "CNN PRESENTS", "Taming the Beast: Inside the War on Cancer," this Saturday, 8:00 p.m. Eastern, right here on CNN. We invite you to watch.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: In the war on terror, innocent people sometimes get caught up in the confusion that often comes with security sweeps. Here's a good example. No-fly babies. Some infants have been stopped from boarding planes in the United States because their names are similar to suspected terrorists on the government's no-fly list. Ingrid Sanden's 1-year-old daughter was stopped before boarding a flight last Thanksgiving in Phoenix.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
INGRID SANDEN, NO-FLY BABY'S MOTHER: Well, it took the airline employee kind of a long time to figure it out, actually. There was a lot of typing on the computer, rushing around back and forth and going in the back and calling people. I don't know exactly what happened, but then she did come out and say that our daughter was on the no-fly list. And she sort of chuckled, but she just had to do her job.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Well, aviation officials say the job of checking names against the list of possible terrorists is a daunting one. With more than 100,000 names now on that list, they say new efforts are under way to try to improve the process for checking passengers.
(STOCK MARKET REPORT)
PHILLIPS: That wraps up this Tuesday edition of LIVE FROM. I'm Kyra Phillips at the CNN Center Atlanta. Now Wolf Blitzer, live in "THE SITUATION ROOM."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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